Simply Beautiful By Angela

creating simple beauty on a budget

Peel and Stick Wood Look Vinyl Flooring

 
***UPDATE***
Click HERE to see the updated tutorial on installing these floors in our master bathroom which has more pictures and is more in depth!
 
Happy Friday! I hope everyone has an awesome weekend planned! After a week of beautiful Spring weather we are supposed to get hit with snow–boo  🙁 So it’s safe to say that I’ll be staying busy getting some indoor projects done.
 
When I first decided to give our bathroom a budget makeover I wasn’t even really thinking about the floors. I mean, they weren’t that terrible even though they were starting to peel up in some spots.  However, once I got the beautiful shiplap up I started to get an itch to replace them with something that fits my style better.
 
 
 

We headed over to Lowes to see what our options were. I have loved wood look tiles since I first saw them.  These ones by Style Selections in Natural Timer Ash are so pretty!

But after reading up on how to tile floors, I started to shy away from doing them myself. We did our kitchen backsplash with almost no problems, but when it comes to floor tile you have to worry about getting the floor perfectly level so that the tile doesn’t crack. A professional install would cost quite a bit more than I was comfortable spending right now.

The guy at Lowes almost had us sold on these laminate planks by Pergo Max Premier in Heathered Oak.

The install was something that I was pretty confident about doing ourselves, but then I started reading about people having problems with these types of floors in bathrooms because of the moisture. The last thing I wanted was to spend all that time and money just to have our floors start warping. And seeing as how this is the boys’ bathroom I anticipate a lot of water hitting the floor!

So I drove myself nuts for weeks trying to figure out what to do. I’m pretty sure the hubby started going to another place in his mind whenever I got on the topic haha!

But one day while browsing the flooring aisle at Lowes for the tenth time, I ran across these vinyl peel and stick planks by Style Selections in Driftwood.

The color is what drew me in–the online pictures don’t do it justice because it’s much more gray in person.  I was immediately impressed with how real they look. They even have a raised wood grain texture on them.

Despite my excitement,  the hubby was not sold at all. But we finally came to the agreement that at only $0.98 a square foot this would be a good temporary solution until we can afford to do tile.

Supplies Used: (Affiliate links may be provided for convenience.  For more info, see my full disclosure here.) 

The old peel and stick floors were put down on a sheet of laminate but were starting to peel up in some of the high traffic spots. The night before I began I went around and used Liquid Nails to stick them back down.

I laid a bunch of the new vinyl planks down on top as it dried. They are surprisingly very heavy!

I also laid out a few planks to see which direction I wanted them to go.

 

Ultimately I decided on the second option since it flows as you walk in the door and it would be less short pieces to cut in.

I began the next morning by sweeping and then going over every nook and cranny with a vacuum hose. After every little piece of debris was picked up I went over it with some Simple Green and a scrubbie.  Make sure that your floors are as clean as you can get them because that is the key to making sure that these bad boys really stick.

Finally it was time to start laying the planks! I was so nervous that I was going to mess it up, but was pleasantly surprised with how simple it was to install.

Each piece has arrows on the paper backing to show you the direction of the wood grain. This helps all of the pieces flow together to look like real wood.

You just peel off the paper backing and stick it down. When you get to a vent or other obstacle you just use a utility knife against a straight edge (I used scrap wood) to score and break it away.

For areas next the door and vanity I found the Contour Gauge  extremely helpful.  With this I was able to just push it up against the obstacle and the little metal pins would retract in so that I could lay it on my tile and trace where I needed to cut.  It made cutting those difficult spots so much easier!

I didn’t take a picture of this step since I got caught up in the project, but this is what it looks like:

I laid whole planks in a staggered pattern then went back and filled in the ends. This worked pretty well except for a few that I laid slightly crooked. When I went back to put the filler piece in there would sometimes be a small gap. To prevent this, it’s probably better to go row by row and get the filler pieces laid as you go.

I used a wooden rolling pin over each one to make sure the adhesive on the back stuck nicely.  It worked pretty well except it was kind of hard to get in tight areas.  When I do this in our master bathroom I have my eye on this Edge Seam Roller to make it a little easier!

It was smooth sailing until we got to the toilet. My awesome Father in Law came over to help me and came up with the idea to just slightly loosen and lift the toilet up and slide the pieces underneath. It saved us from having the make the cuts but it did cause them to bow up a little bit because of the weight of the toilet. It’s not super noticeable but something to keep in mind.

The last step was caulking and I’ll spare you all the messy details and just let you know that when you go to caulk around the toilet, please, please, please tape it off so that you don’t get a ton of caulk on your pretty new floors!  It washed off but was a total pain in the butt. Oh and I also learned that you shouldn’t caulk around the very back of the base so that you can tell if the toilet ever leaks.

So about an hour and a half and 20 bucks later we had pretty new floors!

I just love it!

 

You guys–I can’t emphasize enough how awesome the texture is in person!

 

 
The dark contrast looks awesome against the white baseboards. I also removed the vinyl from the base of our builder grade vanity and replaced it with 1×4 MDF  to fancy it up a little.

 

 

Not bad for a temporary solution! In fact, doing tile jut got pushed way down on the priority list because I’m honestly really happy with these. And guess what? The hubby ended up being pretty  impressed too. Who would have thought… 😉

***UPDATE***
Click HERE to see the updated tutorial on installing these floors in our master bathroom which has more pictures and is more in depth!
 

I have received several emails about how fantastic the shower curtain pairs with these floors.  I found it at Target (link here) and have been really happy with the quality and thickness of it.

I have  also had a few readers ask me where they can purchase this type of flooring online other than Lowes. I found these similar ones on Amazon with great reviews. Happy flooring everyone!

     

 

 
 Linking up to these awesome parties!

 

Comments

  2. Angela, your floors look beautiful!! And for $20!! Wow!! Great job!! I would like to invite you to our link party, Sweet Inspiration Link Party, happening right now. Hope to see you there!

  3. I absolutely LOVE it! Amazingly the peal and stick tile you were covering up my mom and I laid down in her house almost ten years ago! And its also showing the wear just like yours were – I think for a low cost solution you can't beat it though and I think the new peel and stick tiles just keep getting better. I can't believe how realistic your new floors look, awesome!

    By the way, I nominated you for the Liebster Award!
    http://www.grandmashousediy.com/liebster-award/

    Have a wonderful day!

  5. Love the wood plank look! I have used stick on groutable tile in our bathrooms until I can afford real tile as well. One thing I would like to mention, though and that is the install around the toilet might cause an issue, should you have to replace it. My son put a toy down into th bowl recently, that could not be dislodged and we wound up having to replace it. Much as we tried, the new toilet did not fit the footprint of the old one. Luckily, Lowes still had our vinyl tile in stock and we were able to patch it up without a hitch. Just figured I'd mention it here, in case someone is wondering if they should tile under the toilet or not.

    • Thank you so much Karin! I did think about that and when I go to do our master bathroom we probably will remove it to avoid that from happening 🙂

  7. This might be the perfect solution for my master bathroom in our Florida rental condo. I know I want to renovate the heck out of it down the road but not right now! Our floor is peeling up so I will probably need to remove at least the top layer. Thanks for the inspiration!

    • Thank you Katie! It looks so much better than outdated vinyl and it's really hard to tell they aren't wood 🙂

  9. my son and i put down peel and stick flooring in my bedroom and you would never know it! it looks amazing! i bought it from walmart because of course they offer free shipping to the store or your home. AND it was $10-$15 dollars cheaper per box than on Wayfair and other online places. my husband was so shocked! i love it and will be doing my walk-in closet and bathroom soon as well as my son's room! after seeing it he wanted it for his room!

  10. I am so excited I found your site and sold on the peel and stick since I have seen the pictures you posted. We have to replace the carpeting in the hall way off the bathroom. In your opinion do you think this peel and stick would look okay in a hallway and the bathroom?

    • yes it will work fine in the hallway – we have had it in ours for several years now! it still looks brand new with all the walking being done on it. and i know people that have put it in their bathrooms with the same results!

  13. I wonder how this would work over ceramic tile and grout lines. I once had an apartment where they stuck vinyl tiles over old vinyl tiles and you ended up seeing the impressions of the lower pattern in the top layer.

    • Lea Ann if the floor has deep grout lines I probably would recommend tearing them out first because these planks aren't super thick and it probably would show through

  14. Hi… Question are these easy to pull up or will it damage what's underneat?? Love it!

    • Very good question! I haven't researched that since I don't really want to ever see the old floor again haha. I would imagine that they could come up pretty earsily if you use a hair dryer to help but it may be hard to get rid of the residue.

  16. there was no need to remove them for us. when we removed the carpet there was a little space left under the baseboards so we were able to slide them under it all the way to the wall.

  17. I'm looking into re-doing my kitchen floors. I have a very low budget and this looks like a very pretty and cost effective option. Do you think this is the type of flooring that would hold up well in a kitchen?

  18. I can say you were smart with not getting the pergo!! It's in our basement and our basement flooded this past week and in the first room needs to be ripped up. We had a draft party in our media room in the basement and so many people spilled their drinks, and I think I was flying across the table trying to get it up. I warned them next year I'm putting plastic on the floors. And they think i'm kidding…

  19. Angela, your bathroom floor is EXACTLY what I am looking for!! Thanks so much. I am excited to do it in my own bathroom. I appreciate the realistic directions ! I am in the same situation and now I have the perfect solution, thanks to you. Keep up the great work !!!

  21. Apart from wood, tiles and marble, vinyl flooring is also a popular flooring option. Most probably, we are looking for good quality, cost effective and long lasting flooring option. Vinyl flooring fulfills all the aspects. We can get a proper description of vinyl flooring and its features and wish to install vinyl floors in our home.
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  22. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! We had some pieces of the darker Gunstock color a while back. We thought we might like it for our kitchen. It was given to us and we didn't like it as it was too dark. I did not know that it came in different colors. The gray tone wont look good in our kitchen but it will look fabulous in our bathrooms! I am so freaking glad I came across your post! Thanks for doing the leg work for me!!!

  23. So excited I saw this post! It has inspired me to update my basement!! I am officially going to be doing this to cover up most of our concrete flooring in our basement! I already purchased the flooring so there's no going back now! Hoping to setup a blog or some kind of post to inspire others as well! Don't know anything about blogging but it's all thanks to you!

  25. I love your floor! I followed the link and they are $3.88 per sq ft. Did you get these on super sale?

  26. Yes!! They are only $.98 sorry for the confusion. You did such a great job I thought it was to good to be true but it's not!!

    • Great actually! My toddler has poured bath water on it and the baby has even peed on it a few times that I was too slow getting him in the tub haha!

  29. For complicated areas like around a toilet, you can tape newsprint together to make a template, cutting the paper to the shape you need, then using it to cut the floor pieces without having to work the more solid floor pieces in the awkward space.

  30. I was going to ask about the removal also…I'm moving into an apartment, but I don't plan on moving for a few years. I was hoping for a temporary alternative to the usual "rental beige". If I have to remove it I was wanting to see if it would be easy or not. Sounds like it's VERY durable!

  32. This looks great! I'm considering sing something similar on my bathroom floors until we re-do our boys bathroom too. I actually already have the tile for the floor and walls, but I need to demo the tub and replace it, that's what's holding me back…not that I can't (I'm a contractor specializing in kitchens and bathrooms) just that I need to have the time to do it! I'm so glad you didn't go with laminate (we won't take a job wanting a laminate bathroom or kitchen floor) you would have regretted it, even if it was temporary

  34. my mom and I are talking about upgrading her bathroom as we did our guest one recently and are in love with it! We don't want to spend as much as we did on the other bathroom and this is so perfect! Love the look, I still cannot believe it isn't real wood!

    Are you able to use this on the existing tile we have in our bathroom? It's real tile, so wasn't sure.

    Thanks so much!

    • If the grout lines are deep I'm not sure if it would work just because these planks are pretty thin. If the grout is thin enough I think it would be worth a shot. Maybe try purchasing one and try laying it down with the paper still attached and see how it looks when you step on it!

  36. I am so, so happy I have stumbled upon your blog. For probably a year now, I have wanted to do some kind of bluish color in my bathroom. I feel like you walked in my mind and made the perfect bathroom! The colors are absolutely BEAUTIFUL and you are right, this flooring just pulls it all together perfectly! I've tried home projects in the past that were CLEARLY too much for me. I believe this is just what I need to try to start getting better at these projects. Thank you SO MUCH for such an informative, step by step article!

    • Hi Shelly, thank you so much that really means a lot! My DIY skills are pretty basic so if I could pull this off anyone certainly can! It's amazing how much some paint, shiplap and peel and stick floors can really update a space 🙂

  37. Hi Angela – Awesome job on that floor! You have given me hope! Can you answer a quick question – Is this flooring flexible? As in, will it bend? I have an old house and someone put curved metal flashing up the wall to to baseboard and removing it seems like a horrible job… I am thinking if it was glued down, it might curve up? Thanks for any suggestions you or your readers might have!! Thanks – Cindy

    • Hello Cindy! Yes these planks are super flexible and bend very easily I'm not sure if I follow what you are describing but I hope thatt helps! 🙂

  38. Love your floors. I'm going to Lowes this weekend! Can I ask where you got that shower curtain? Love that teal color with the gray floors.

  39. Hi Angela, I love those! Hey it's exactly what I'm looking for. But I have dogs that go potty in the bathroom, so I was wondering if those would be the solution for me. Are they still good? Could you do an update? Thank you 🙂

    • Thank you Blenda! I have a three year old boy who misses the potty frequently and a 1year old who often pees on the floor before I can get him to the bathtub and it wipes right up with a towel 🙂

  40. Thanks for sharing an amazing information. I am really amazed by your ideas. You always come up with exaggerated information. Yeah!!! I learned a lot from you. Big thanks to you 🙂 Cheers!!!

  42. I love this! Wondering though if it would work on our floors as they are not flat. The flooring is already not really level. And also there is wider spaces between the tile that is grouted. Would I need floors that are more all flat like your flooring underneath is? Thanks for the great idea!

    • I don't think I would recommend going over tile since they are pretty thin and they might start to show the grout lines depending on how deep they are. I hope that helps! 🙂

  46. I am interested in doing this. It has now been awhile since you installed it. Is it still holding up and staying down? I am worried about the adhesive not being strong enough.

    • Yes they haven't budged! And that's with a lot of bath water splashing every night 🙂 As long as you really clean the old surface well beforehand it should have no problem sticking!

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